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push-tet · 8 months ago

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@hellodahliah special for you 🥰 and for ppl who want to understand the lore of my Verona

kind of an addendum to the last post

bruh im sorry that this post came out so long!!

The Counts origin: The Counts, like the Сapps, were once an aristocracy. But after losing the election to Macbeth's ancestor, the Counts' ancestors ceased to consider themselves aristocrats. Leaving the path of palitics the Counts chose the path of jurisprudence. The Counts were able to maintain their power and influence over Veronaville by pulling the strings of law and justice

Escalus-Prince - Knowledge\Pisces- 5\3\9\1\7

Yeah, he's got a double name but everyone just calls him Escalus or Escal

He's too empathic for a job in the judiciary

He met his ex-wife at uni, he thought it was the real love but in fact she was using him to improve her position at uni so that she would not be expelled (he did all her academic work for her). When the truth came out, he didn't make a scene and just asked her to leave

After the death of Ledia Macbeth (the mayor at the time), he continues her work trying to reconcile the old generation of feuding clans

Escalus couldn't spend much time with his son. That's why they have a strained relationship with him

Escalus realizes he's spoiled Paris. While he has time, he tries to carefully correct this mistake so that he knows Paris will be a worthy successor to the family business

Gregorio - Romance\Taurus - 4\7\3\8\3

He is the first adopted son of the Summerdreams. When he grew up, he changed his last name

He was in love with a servant girl at the Сapp House (at the time of the game, the deceased Angelica Nurse)

He's a master of bad flirting

Before he became the Counts' butler, he tried his hand at stand-up

Gregorio still doesn't know how to react to Paris' words - You're like a big brother to me

After the fire at the old Count manor, he developed hydrophobia

Paris - Family\Leo - 5\8\3\4\5

Paris was born and spent half his childhood in Champs Les Sims. But his parents were going on a long expedition, so they returned to Veronaville and left their son in the care of Escalus. They promised to send him a card or letter once a month, but he hadn't received one in over three years (they're alive)

Paris was chubby in chilhood

Paris got interested in drawing after watching - Little Miss Wendalyn (fun fact - it's also Romeo's fav cartoon) At the moment, the biggest fan of his doodles is Merc

Paris is a little self-centered and makes himself a pretty good-looking guy. But even so, he always says - There's beauty in everyone. Someone just didn't think to wash their face today

Paris has been friends with Julliette since childhood but her liaison with Romeo annoys him. Paris just can't turn a blind eye to Romeo's shameful reputation. Not because he's jealous nonono

Paris and Romeo don't openly show their dislike for each other and pretend they are good bros. Paris calls him Gnomeo

The Zhung origin:

The fairies of the Zhung Clan are famous tea masters and their outdated views on life. The men of the clan are outstanding healers and the women of the clan are supposed to be creative but devote themselves to looking after the family. But no member of the family is allowed to leave the homeland without special permission from the elders. Failure to follow the rules is punishable by condemnation and condemnation within the family

Yingtai - Virgo\Family 8\3\5\3\6

After her daughter left the family, Yingtai devoted herself to a career in music. She is fluent in playing all musical instruments and has often performed at the opera

As a young girl, Yangtai disobeyed her family and went to university abroad dressed as a man

Yingtai's husband openly despised her family. He despised them so much that he refused to use his wife's surname after marriage

Yingtai hasn't spoken another language for a long time, so when she arrives in Veronaville she starts to communicate with everyone in her native language as a habit

Yingtai remains devoted to her husband even after his death

Yintai knows all types and kinds of teas by heart. So she's literally like: Fuck your zodiac signs. What's your favorite tea?; Her favorite - Longjing tea

please someone ask me about Yingtai and her husband's relationship they are my Roman Empire

Madam - Aries\Pleasure 5\6\6\4\4

i found an old post about her bruh

Madam change her name and took her second husband's surname so she and her daughter wouldn't be part of the Zhung

Madam hates everything to do with her father. Unlike her mother, Madame is convinced that he is not dead but simply ran away

Madame works as a fashion photographer but also successfully designs her own custom-made clothes. Some of her clients include - Marissa Cleveland, Armand DeBateau, Mercutio Monty, Klara Vonderstein, Goneril and Kent Capp, Bella Goth, Cordial sisters

Madame doesn't hate men, she just doesn't like it when men try to control women

After the "death" of her father, Yingtai fell into a deep depression and stopped paying attention to her daughter, because of this Madame became unmanageable and often deliberately got into trouble

After leaving home, Madame still has a habit of asking after the welcome - "Would you like some tea?" Her favorite - Pu Erh with basil-cherry

Helana - Scorpio\Fortune 7\4\7\4\3

When Helena was studying martial arts in Shang Simla. (btw the homeland of Madam and Yingati) She overworked herself so much that she now has to dye her hair blond to cover up a bunch of gray hairs

Helena the union of an ordinary sim and a fairy. A half-breed. She does not have access to such fnctions as - long life and magic. But in she excels in physical activities of ordinary sims

Fact: Helena was able to reeducate Paris to do his job properly

For Helna, Hermia is dead. So when she's asked to stop ignoring Hermia's existence, she says - I'm not crazy enough to talk to a ghost

Helena seems to be a cold person, but if you talk to her for a while, you will find out that in addition to white arts, she bakes cookies/buns to drink tea with (if Paris doesn't eat all the sweets in one go); Her favorite - green tea with peach

The Snout also have a dog named Peek

He was a present for Madam from father-in-law. i don't know how to describe him, i'll just show it

he's also supposed to be a Spitz

fact: the only three characters here are not Shakespearean references

hmmm, should i put Madam-Helena and Escalus-Paris templates for download?

#my shitpost #vv:bs #veronaville #btw #my laptop is alive now

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faustiandevil · 4 months ago

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A queer analysis of Dick Dastardly

I know it’s a cliché for the villains to be queer-coded at this point, but I think there is an underlying queerness to Dick’s character that hasn’t been explored in depth before. I will mainly be focusing on the two main TV series he appears in, Wacky Races and Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines (further on it will just be shortened to Dastardly and Muttley), as well as the addendum comics that were made for both cartoons, as well as the inspirational sources that formed Dick’s character. I will be ignoring the 2017 reboot for this analysis as I’m not too fond of it to be quite frank and I also do not adhere to the canon of it that the Dick Dastardly in Dastardly and Muttley is the father of the Dick Dastardly in Wacky Races. If we are to look at the historical contexts for the series Dastardly and Muttley is shown to be taking place during WWI with how the design of the planes look, and Wacky Races taking place after that with its nods to Prohibition. The Vulture Squadron are also seem to be on the side of the Central Powers as they are trying to capture an American carrier pigeon, which also suggest that Dastardly and Muttley takes place closer to the end of the war as America joined the war on the side of the Allies in April 1917. This leaves very little a gap between the two series, in-between 1918 and 1920, so I would say that the character is the same person, he just ages, I know a wild concept, but it happens to the best of us. Even if Wacky Races were to take place closer to the end of Prohibition, late 1920s and early 1930s, it would still make the son Dick Dastardly a teen, which his design clearly does not suggest. Arguments could be made that he could’ve had the child before the start of the war, but I will be debunking those claims later on. Now with all that said let’s get into the analysis.

Dick Dastardly and Drag

Let us start right of the bat by addressing the elephant in the room. Now in Dastardly and Muttley Dick is hardly ever seen outside of his uniform, aside from a few costumes when trying to catch Yankee Doodle Pigeon or when on his furlough in episode 10 Vacation Trip Trap. The only times he is seen in different outfits is in Muttley’s Walter Mitty-esque daydreams, where Muttley assigns various villain roles to his owner, and with the roles comes the outfits, but those are still very masculine in nature, but more on that later. In Wacky Races however there are a few instances where he dresses in drag, and two times it happens in episode 3b Idaho a Go Go.

Of course he dresses this way to thwart the racers from crossing the finish line, and in both times his main target is Penelope Pitstop, the only female racer in Wacky Races and someone who is clearly very feminine in both looks and personality, and while Dick does wear a dress, he doesn’t care enough to get rid of his mustache to make his performance more believable. He also calls it his Red Riding Hood routine, which suggest a few things, one being that this is indeed a performance, two that he has done it more than once if it’s a routine, and third that if it’s a routine then he is most likely the owner of the dress. With the grandma nightgown the ownership of it is questionable, as he is already inside the house, so it’s more likely that he has borrowed it from there, but with the Red Riding Hood one he is in the woods, and most likely changed in his car, and kept the dress inside the car’s trunk.

Another instance where he dresses in a more feminine manner is in episode 8a Hot Race at Chillicothe, where he gets into the role of a distressed mother whose baby is playing on the road, a very real fear based on historical context, as playgrounds didn’t really exist back in the late 1910s and early 1920s when the series takes place, so children often played on the road, and with cars slowly appearing more and more next to horses and carriages, and speeding becoming a new term in the lexicon, it was a sure fire way for accidents to happen. There was no real reason for him to get into the role of a mother though, he could’ve just as well played a distressed father, but I guess a woman in despair is more likely to get people’s attention. Again the ownership of the clothes is hinted to be his, as he changes into it while the race is still ongoing, not really leaving him with any time to buy or even steal one.

A more certain instance of Dick owning feminine clothes next to masculine ones comes from the Cartoon Network Presents Comic Issue #7 very cleverly titled Drag Racing. The comic starts off with Dick reading the newspaper and seeing that Penelope will be partaking in the Powder Puff Rally, an all-girls racing contest, declaring that he could win this, and of course by dressing up as a woman to partake in the race.

He then pulls out a dress from his car trunk, destroying any doubt that it belongs to anyone else but him, and even chastising Muttley that “of course these shoes match this dress”, implying that he owns multiple pairs to play dress up with. But again he doesn’t seem to care enough to adhere to the commercial beauty standards as he doesn’t shave his legs, arms and mustache, refusing to look like the traditionally feminine woman accepted by society. In all fairness everyone has body hair, so go queen, you don’t need to shave anything if you don’t want to. He then introduces himself to the judges, Peter Perfect and Pat Pending, as Drussila De’Spicable a name that one could very well imagine hearing in RuPaul’s Drag Race. During the race he never once seems uncomfortable in the dress, but his interest in the stereotypical feminine pastimes like shopping and going to the beauty parlor are very surface level. He will wear a dress and tag along, but that’s about as much, refusing to change himself to please anyone, and that seems to be the giveaway that he is not a “true” woman, but someone masquerading as one, which I call bullshit.

Penny, I love you, but that’s just rude and very untrue of a statement, it’s just straight up transphobia.

Interacting with other characters

Let us start with Dick’s relationship with Penelope Pitsop, as the two clearly have an animosity with one another. In the main cartoon series they don’t interact much, and if they do it’s Dick being a dick (hehe) to her. Like in episode 2b Beat the Clock to Yellow Rock he tricks Penelope to stop on a geyser and taunts her that he’ll help her, after he wins the race, only to get flattened when her car comes crashing down.

In episode 9a Rhode Island Road Race Dick states he cannot stand a pushy female, as Penelope tries to take the lead from him, and tries to distract her from the race by giving her chocolates, only to separate her completely from her vehicle. In the same episode he also accidentally lands in her car from which Penny swiftly removes him from. Now Dick has very much the looks of a traditional vaudeville mustache twirling villain who tries to kidnap the female lead as he is romantically interested in her, but he doesn’t seem interested at all and this episode shows them in the closest proximity to one another, literally sitting side by side, and he does not flirt or make any sort of moves on her, if anything he just looks confused to be there. Even the chocolates seem to be hinting at that yet again he has a surface level knowledge of women and that comes up more than once.

While the Gold Key comics mainly feature the same storylines from the cartoon, Penelope does seem bitchier in the comics, ready to use her looks to distract or turn racers against one another, usually Peter Perfect and Red Max. Just look at the below example from Issue #2.

Sometimes even Sargent Blast turns up to try and win her attention (Gold Key comic Issue #3), and once even Meekly mentions that he and Penelope danced together at the Pitstoppers’ Ball (Gold Key comic Issue #6), but Dick is never shown to be interested.

As mentioned before Dick also seems to have a surface level knowledge of what women like, as in episode 10a Wacky Race to Ripsaw, where he distracts Penelope with an Instant Beauty Shoppe. This same gag comes up in the Gold Key comic Issue #2 as well, and while in the cartoon it’s just shown as Penelope being distracted, it turns out differently in the comic. There Dick thinks he has the race in the bag when Penelope gets covered in mud thinking she’ll be too embarrassed to show up at the finish line, only for her to do the opposite and treat it as a mud pack and even calling him out on his lack of knowledge, very much in the style of “I know what you are, faggot”.

In episode 9b The Great Cold Rush Race they once again cross paths as Dick dressed as an abominable snowman tries to scare her, only Penelope just finds the creature adorable, and proceeds to run him over (mainly because her breaks don’t work on the ice), then noting that he makes the cutest radiator cap she has ever seen. I do love it when Penny’s more unhinged nature comes through, it’s really funny. He pulls a similar tactic in episode 12b The Super Silly Swamp Sprint where he once again tries to scare her only now dressed as an alligator, except she’s clearly a Florida woman with how little she reacts to gators prowling around her. While dressed as a gator Dick also manages to attract a female alligator that shows him a shortcut, but after the female gator is no longer useful he tries to leave, only for her to cling to him, much to his annoyance, once again not showing any interest in female partnership, human or otherwise.

The two do have one positive interaction in the cartoon, that being episode 13a The Dopey Dakota Derby, where Dick dressed as an outlaw tells her to draw, only for her to take it as to draw as in drawings and not guns, and Dick loving the portrait she drew of him. But for the most part the two are shown as clear opposites, and not particularly fond of one another, so there is no chance for these two to be in any sort of romantic relationship. She also did steal his one legitimate win in episode 1b Creepy Trip to Lemon Twist.

In Dastardly and Muttley Dick also has one interaction with a woman, in episode 4 Barnstormers, where the Vulture Squadron accidentally ends up crashing into a barn and the owner, Hilda developing a crush on Zilly, only to switch her attraction towards Dick by the end of the episode. He doesn’t show much of an interest in her when she’s attracted to one of his men, and he’s clearly put off by her when he becomes the subject of her affection, the way he even ignores the mission of capturing the pigeon just to get as far away from the woman as physically possible.

Remember how at the beginning I was going to dispel any doubts that Dick Dastardly has a child. Well in the Laff-A-Lypics comic Issue #13 there is one instance of Dick being attracted to a woman and is shown to be ready to get married to her, only for his twin brother, Dread Baron to put an end to it, claiming that he already has an illegitimate child, which was of course just Mumbly dressed up as a baby.

Of course it ends with a fatphobic joke, and a haha dodged a bullet there didn’t I, there can still be a queer reading attributed to it, as many gay men have went into a marriage thinking that maybe being together with a woman would fix them, only for both parties of the marriage to end up being miserable. Him thanking his brother is a way of accepting his queerness, and that it was probably for the best. I have no excuse for the fatphobia though.

Now anyone could say that Dick could’ve slept with Ophelia before the marriage as well, except in Cartoon Network Presents Issue #15 Drive and Driveability, he is approached by a woman in needing advice on love and Dick actually shows signs of vulnerability and answers sincerely. In that moment he has nothing to gain from the interaction, so one would assume that what he is saying is something that he himself believes, and would not take advantage of a romantic partner in any way if he truly loves the person. Considering also the historical period that he most likely grew up in courting and marriage were taken more seriously, than it is by the timeframe of Wacky Races where casual dating is more normalized.

Of course he quickly becomes disgusted right after that he has shown a more vulnerable side of him to someone, and storms of blaming the “scabby atmospheric countryside” for turning him into an extra in a Pride and Prejudice parody. Then he discovers that the Mr. Darcy in question is none other than Peter Perfect and starts chasing after him in a rage. Is it him being enraged that Peter would play with this poor woman’s heart in jest? Or is it that he just wants to steal his vehicle to win the race? Perhaps it can be both.

After he catches up with him, Peter is already flirting with Penelope and Dick in true queer villain fashion, breaks up the straight couple, hiding Peter in Penny’s trunk while stealing his car, all the while Penelope is cursing that Peter just drove off, even saying “Mother warned me about racing men!”. He also seems to be constantly breaking up another straight couple and that’s in the Magnificent Muttley segment of Dastardly and Muttley, where even if they are just Muttley’s daydreams, he seems to view his owner being very much against heteronormativity. Yes, I will call Muttley a homophobic dog, I’m not above the memes.

In episode 13b Dash to Delaware he did bake Penelope and Peter into one big wedding cake, but I guess he did realize later on that even Penny deserves someone better than Peter.

Now those are all the interactions he has with women, but let’s see how he is with men considering this is a queer analysis. In Dastardly and Muttley he is in a higher position than Zilly and Klunk, most likely a Hauptmann (Captain), and with how many medals he gives to Muttley as bribery, Dastardly could be well assumed to be a highly decorated war hero. Well, most of the time that is. The man is not often the brightest, but he had to do something right to get to the rank of Captain.

Now he shows no attraction to either of the Squadron members, and treats them more as colleagues he has to work together with, but indeed showing signs of affection at times, and doesn’t seem to be above it all when it comes to taking part in very questionable ways in catching one pigeon. He does seem to be a bit closer to Zilly, as he has a hard time understanding Klunk, and with the added language barrier it is harder to hold a decent conversation.

In episode 10 of Dastardly and Muttley Vacation Trip Trap he does forget about himself in the moment and goes straight for a kiss when he hears that his 2 weeks furlough has been approved, even if it’s just through the phone. He doesn’t even seem to notice that what he did was unconventional and deviant to the hetero norm, until the General reaches through the phone and pulls at his nose to reprimand him, but even then he doesn’t seem to care much for conventionality as he is off duty by that point. Can’t be court-martialed for homosexual crimes when I’m on vacation. In the Fun-In comic Issue #10 he even displays effete traits of singing and skipping when overjoyed, something that is usually stereotypically attributed to gay men.

In Wacky Races his interactions with all the racers are pretty much the same, with trying to sabotage them just for an easy win, but two instances can be read as possibly him showing interest in one of them, and that being Red Max. In the very first episode of Wacky Races 1a See-Saw to Arkansas he stops right before the finish line, because he is vain enough to pose for a photo finish picture, and letting Red Max win. Now a man who is so dead set on winning would really throw a race that easily? He doesn’t even seem mad about it. The other instance comes in the comic Cartoon Network Presents Issue #11 Fair Play, where all the racers switch cars, and Dick, a man who has had a picture of his car hanging in numerous shots in Dastardly and Muttley, lent it to Red Max. It’s also safe to assume that the racers decided by themselves who gets to drive which car, as the announcer is confused by the switcheroo and the new rules are explained to him by Lazy Luke.

Either he trusts the man enough not to crash his car, unlike the other racers, or he does have a soft spot for him. They are both WWI veterans, and both of them served in the Luftstreitkräfte, even if not in the same squadron, but the two of them would be the most likely to have any sort of common interests. In episode 11b The Dipsy Doodle Desert Derby however he does go I want that hunk obliterated and orders his genie to flatten him. The relationship may have hit a rocky patch there with Dick trying to commit straight up murder, and he does become more aggressive later on in the series, targeting Max more often than at the start. Guess the man got tired that his flirting is not reciprocated, or that Max was paying more attention to Penelope rather than him.

In Cartoon Network Present Issue #15 Drive and Driveability again, he is not allowed to race in the Northanger Abbey Invitational, for as the name suggest, it was invitational, and he was not invited, possibly due to war crimes against England during WWI. So Dick plots to steal one of the racers cars in order to snag a win. He immediately targets the subcontinental playboy, Hot Raj, and even comments on his appearance. He never once did that in any of the cartoons or the comics, and the only time he calls someone hot, it’s a man.

There are also two instances where he attracts the attention of men, and that’s when he is in drag. It’s also worth noting that he is the only one who gets flirted with in the Drag Racing comic while none of the other women do. He just got that special milkshake that brings all the boys to the yard I guess. He doesn’t seem to be overjoyed the first time though, as he clearly gets ogled at by two truck drivers in a very Tex Avery style fashion. Even a cartoon villain agrees that catcalling does not equate to flirting. The second time he does reward the officers with his attention a bit, as they clearly served they purpose of stopping the other contestants. Muttley on the other hand just growls at both times like the homophobic dog that he is.

The inspirational sources for Dick Dastardly

It’s quite common knowledge now that while also somewhat based in appearance on his original voice actor, Paul Winchell, Dick Dastardly’s main inspirational source was the British actor Terry-Thomas. One of his movies Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (further on it will just be shortened to Those Magnificent Men) basically served as a basis to Dastardly and Muttley, even borrowing part of its title. In the movie Terry-Thomas plays an upper class twit and a cad, called Sir Percy Ware-Armitage, who is ready to do anything to make sure that he wins. Huh, sounds familiar. Often times Terry-Thomas’ characters are on the lecherous side, only here that character trait is reserved for the French contestant, Pierre Dubois, who will sleep with any woman he meets. Good old stereotype based humor, am I right? Sir Percy hardly even interacts with the female lead, and is mostly shown together with his servant, Courtney, played by Erik Sykes, who he either bullies or schemes with.

Now another movie that came out the same year as Those Magnificent Men was The Great Race, even having a similar premise of a worldwide race, except in this movie it’s done with automobiles rather than airplanes. Jack Lemmon’s character, Professor Fate, also served as inspiration for Dick, as Fate is also a scheming sabotaging no-good cheat, much like Sir Percy. It’s also very hinted at that Fate himself is queer, as he also never shows any interest in the female lead, Maggie DuBois, played by Natalie Woods, even looking very much surprised and confused when she kisses him, and being angry at his servant for trying to take a peep at her while she’s bathing instead of helping him with the car, and just generally finding her a nuisance.

Now disinterest in women does not make a gay man of course, but the way he interacts with his servant, Max Mean, played by Peter Falk, does often times hint at a relationship. They seem to be quite domestic with having dinner together at the same table, clinging to one another when something goes bad, Max making a comment that the Professor is always cranky in the morning, while sleeping right next to each other. Max even tries to kiss him at the end of the movie, only Fate refuses him. Fate also seems to have had or wishes he had a relationship with his rival, The Great Leslie, played by Tony Curtis, judging by how obsessed he is with him, and his outburst at the end of the movie very much suggest that he has some underlying feelings for him, despite having something already with Max.

Seeing as how clearly queer Fate is, an obvious source of inspiration, it’s not that big of a stretch that Dick Dastardly’s character would also be some flavor of queer.

I will only mention Monte Carlo or Bust! or Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies (further on it will just be shortened to Monte Carlo) briefly, as it came out a year after Wacky Races has already started airing, so it cannot be properly listed as a source. Still it’s interesting to mention that Terry-Thomas now plays the son of the Sir Percy of Those Magnificent Men, called Sir Cuthbert Ware-Armitage, but basically playing the same character. The 2017 reboot might have taken the legacy idea from this movie. Tony Curtis also appears in this movie as well playing a character not too dissimilar from The Great Leslie.

This is also just mentioned as more of a fun fact, but both Terry-Thomas and Jack Lemmon have played together in a movie, and that was How to Murder Your Wife, another movie that came out in 1965, and which is very much queer coded. The movie's premise is that Jack Lemmon’s character, Stanley Ford, accidentally marries a woman, whose name we the audience never truly learn, and is just called Mrs. Ford, played by Virna Lisi, and turns his domestic life that he had with his very gay butler, Charles, of course played by Terry-Thomas, into jeopardy, where Charles often threatens to leave and throws hissy fits at the sight of the woman. Now I’m not saying that this movie was also a source for Dick, I’m just very heavily suggesting it.

Is he British or German?

Before we move onto the historical time period, we should take a look at his very questionable nationality first. He is clearly based on a British actor, and in some media Dick even slips into a very British way of speaking, yet he is shown to be serving in the German army in WWI. It can imply that he could’ve been a spy, but considering how much of a failure that man is, I doubt anyone from the British Army would try to use him for espionage, so he is most likely of mixed heritage, with Dick viewing himself more German as he was ready to fight for that country. Also the man wears this outfit of his own volition on vacation and goes mountain climbing, if that’s not German I don’t know what is.

The historical time period

During and after WWI gender roles have clearly been reshaped from what was previously expected. Trench warfare has put a lot of mental strain on soldiers and they craved emotional support, something that they heavily relied on women for previously. From the International Encyclopedia of the First World War: “Studies of British soldiers’ letters reveal that they imagined a strict dichotomy between a sense of martial masculinity, which entailed selfless devotion to the fatherland, and the loyal woman, who showed her dedication to the nation by supporting her soldier husband through the lifeline of the mail. At the same time, men also grew resentful of women for not sharing the horrifying realities of war.”. Women have experienced independence for the first time, and that also came in the form of freely having sex, something which conservative media outlets portrayed as a threat to the loyal soldier fighting for the country, while women called out on the double standard of it, that how come the soldiers were allowed to sleep with prostitutes in brothels and be unfaithful to their wives and girlfriends, while the women at the home front would have to remain loyal.

Again from the International Encylopedia: “As emotional connections with women were strained, men sought other paths of support. Front newspapers depicted men who were loyal comrades and devoted to the nation. But soldiers who wrote in these newspapers also expressed fantasies about gender transgression, disillusionment with the emotionally stifling expectations of the masculine ideal, and desires for nurturing and love, even with other men. Recently, historians studying front newspapers have emphasized the predominance of a hegemonic masculine image defined against the deviant, effeminate male “other.” However, men writing for front newspapers, especially the frontline trench newspapers, also mocked the hegemonic masculine image and explored new emotions and behaviors, even those deemed “effeminate” and “deviant.” They portrayed loving other men as a desirable and acceptable component of the front experience.”

The following quotes show that the front has clearly provided an escapist outlet for gay men as well as trans women, who could finally seek comfort in the guise of comradeship, taking on new roles previously assigned to women. Drag was also very much relevant during WWI, serving as entertainment for fellow comrades, but also serving as an escapism fantasy to some. “We poor men!” a poem written by a German soldier written for the newspaper Der Flieger (The Flyer) explores these fantasies of taking on a more feminine role for his comrades to elevate them from their suffering, often time in a comical manner, but also portrayed as sexual at times. Of course not all gay men are the same, and some tried to contest the “effeminate deviant” threat that some of them were deemed as, with portraying themselves as the perfect hyper-masculine warrior, who can both fight and provide an emotional outlet to their fellow comrades, the Fatherland’s perfect soldier in a way.

After the war sexual liberation movements had started to form. The Weimar era of Germany may not have been completely accepting of its queer citizens, but there was clearly a vibrant queer life to Berlin with its many gay bars and drag shows. Just a year after the war Anders als die Andern (Different from the Others) a movie portraying homosexuality positively came out and starred a bisexual man, Conrad Veidt in the leading role.

With all this it’s not hard to imagine that Dick Dastardly could be a queer man serving in the war, and in the interim period of the Weimar era experimented with drag, and later on doing the same after moving to America where Wacky Races takes place considering how he only dresses more feminine in that series and not in Dastardly and Muttley. He could’ve also very well performed in drag in speakeasies considering how much he enjoys the theatrical nature of drag, and hiring drag performers to do shows were not uncommon during the Pansy Craze, which lasted right until the end of Prohibition.

Conclusion

With all this evidence I hope I was able to convey it cohesively, from inspirational source, to historical context, to the slight nods of it in the TV series and comics, that everything seems to be pointing at Dick Dastardly being queer in some way. Thank you very much for reading all this and I hope it was somewhat entertaining if not educational!

#Hanna-Barbera #Wacky Races #Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines #Dick Dastardly #Queer #Queer characters in media #Faustian Fables #I spent a whole day writing this essay #I went full insane with this one lads

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